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ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 


Abraham  Lincoln's 
Religion 

MADISON  C.   PETERS 

Author  of  "  Justice  to  the  Jew,"  etc.,  etc. 


BOSTON 
RICHARD  G.  BADGER 

The  Gorham  Press 
1909 


Copyright,  1909.  by  Richard  G.  Badger 


All  rights  reserved 


The  Gotham  Press    Boston.  USA 


45'7.  It 


CONTENTS 


b.          Lincoln  the  Man 1 

CM 

i  II 

Was  Abraham  Lincoln  a  Christian 15 

III 
Wh    did  Lincoln  Never  Join  the  Church     .     39 


432323 


LINCOLN  THE  MAN 


Thou,  too,  sail  on  O  Ship  of  State! 
Sail  on,  O  Union,  strong  and  great! 
Humanity  with  all  its  fears, 
With  all  its  hopes  of  future  years, 
Is  hanging  breathless  on  thy  fate! 

We  know  what  Master  laid  thy  keel, 
What  Workman  wrought  thy  ribs  of  steel, 
Who  made  each  mast  and  sail  and  rope, 
What  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat, 
In  what  a  forge  and  what  a  heat 
Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  thy  hope! 

Fear  not  each  sudden  sound  and  shock: 
'Tis  the  wave,  and  not  the  rock, 
'Tis  but  the  flapping  of  the  sail, 
And  not  a  rent  made  by  the  gale! 

In  spite  of  rock  and  tempest's  roar, 
In  spite  of  false  lights  on  the  shore, 
Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea! 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  are  all  with  thee, 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 
Our  faith  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 
Are  all  with  thee  —  are  all  with  thee! 

Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow 


I 

LINCOLN   THE   MAN 

THE  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  im- 
perishable, immortal;  can  never  fade 
from  the  pages  of  history  or  grow  dim 
with  the  lapse  of  time. 

Had  this  lowly  born  Kentucky  boy 
been  ushered  into  the  world  centuries 
ago  in  England,  doubtless  he  would  have 
become  the  father  of  a  royal  family,  the 
founder  of  a  kingly  dynasty,  the  pioneer 
of  a  courtly  line  whose  proudest  boast 
would  be  to  acclaim  him  their  progenitor. 

Fortunately  he  belongs  to  modern  time 
and  sprang  from  the  loins  of  a  democratic 
race  in  a  young  and  democratic  country, 
around  whose  virgin  brow  he  twined  the 
garlands  of  a  never-fading  luster. 

His  fame  is  America's,  but  his  glory 
belongs  to  the  world,  and  humanity  is 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 


to  konor  him  as  one  of  the  noblest 
among  the  sons  of  men. 

He  founded  no  royal  house  to  per- 
petuate his  name  on  its  escutcheon,  yet 
no  Caliph  or  Conqueror,  no  Emperor  or 
Excellency,  no  Master  or  Monarch,  no 
Prince  or  Potentate,  no  Prelate  or  Pontiff, 
no  Saladin  or  Sultan  has  left  behind  a 
name  so  dear  to  the  hearts  of  posterity 
as  that  of  this  plain  man  of  the  people, 
this  champion  of  human  rights,  this  friend 
of  the  down-trodden  and  oppressed,  whose 
heart  went  out  in  sympathy  and  love  to 
all  mankind,  irrespective  of  race  or 
religion. 

No  character  in  American  history  or, 
perhaps,  in  the  world's  history  stands  out 
so  clearly  silhouetted  against  the  back- 
ground of  time  as  Lincoln;  none  so  free 
from  defect  or  flaw,  with  no  irregularities 
to  mar  its  outlines,  no  inequalities  to 
detract  from  its  perfect  formation;  its 
every  curve  and  section  a  symmetry  of 
proportion. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

Born,  February  12,  1809,  as  lowly 
as  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  in  a  one-room, 
shackling  Kentucky  cabin,  the  child  of 
a  poverty-stricken  man,  whom  misfortune 
had  seemingly  chosen  for  her  own,  and 
whose  ambitions  were  blighted  and  hopes 
almost  dead,  he  conquered  every  environ- 
ment of  an  untoward  fate,  burst  every  link 
that  bound  him  to  the  misery  of  his  sur- 
roundings, and  came  forth  in  invincible 
majesty  to  write  his  name  in  letters  of 
adamant  on  the  walls  of  Fame. 

Reared  in  gripping,  grinding,  pinching 
penury  and  pallid  poverty,  amid  the  most 
squalid  destitution  possible  to  conceive, 
successively  a  choreboy,  common  laborer, 
rail-splitter,  river  pilot,  and  country  store- 
keeper, he  made  his  way  through  trials 
and  difficulties  that  would  have  over- 
whelmed the  bravest  spirit;  broke  down 
every  barrier,  turned  all  obstacles  into 
stepping-stones  to  progress,  until  he  en- 
tered the  arena  of  public  life  as  a  lawyer, 
commanding  the  confidence  and  respect 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

of  all  who  knew  him  and  the  terrible  odds 
he  had  to  fight  against  to  win  out  in  the 
battle  of  life. 

Practically  an  unknown  man  when 
nominated  for  the  Presidency,  his  election 
due  to  factional  strife  among  his  op- 
ponents, the  people  of  America  when 
approaching  the  greatest  crisis  in  their 
history,  turned  as  if  by  chance,  and 
Providence  that  chance  did  guide,  to  this 
comparatively  obscure  man  of  the  prairies, 
and  with  one  bound  he  took  his  place 
with  the  world's  greatest  statesmen,  the 
leader  of  his  party,  the  real  ruler  of  a 
mighty  nation. 

Led  as  it  were  by  an  Unseen  Hand  to 
the  front,  he  solved  problems  that  stag- 
gered the  wisest  minds  of  the  nation, 
directed  military  campaigns,  and  con- 
ducted diplomatic  relations  with  such 
skill  as  to  astonish  the  most  astute  states- 
men, cabinet  ministers,  and  army  gen- 
erals. The  rail-splitter  of  the  Sangamon 
had  become  at  the  supreme  moment  the 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

man  of  destiny  to  whom  the  nation  looked 
in  the  most  crucial  period  it  had  yet 
encountered. 

Such  a  man  is  not  an  accident, —  he  is 
more  than  a  circumstance.  He  is  sent 
upon  a  mission  and  bears  his  credentials 
from  a  Higher  Power  than  that  of  earth, — 
there  is  a  purpose  and  a  plan  in  his  ex- 
istence, the  latter  is  mapped  out,  the 
former  must  be  fulfilled. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  Lincoln  had 
barely  a  year's  schooling,  where  and  how 
did  he  acquire  his  profound  wisdom  and 
his  depth  of  knowledge  ? 

That  he  was  a  God-ordained  man, 
raised  up  to  accomplish  a  divine  design, 
few,  who  have  closely  studied  the  charac- 
ter and  work  of  the  man,  will  gainsay. 

As  the  early  prophets  were  inspired  by 
God  to  utter  golden  words  of  divine  wis- 
dom, so  Lincoln  was  inspired  from  the 
same  source  to  speak  and  act  in  con- 
formity to  divine  intention.  The  key- 
note of  this  idea  is  forcibly  struck  by 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

Henry  Watterson,  when  he  writes :  "  And 
a  thousand  years  hence,  no  tragedy, 
no  drama,  no  epic  poem  will  be  filled 
with  greater  wonder,  or  be  followed 
by  mankind  with  deeper  feelings,  than 
that  which  tells  the  story  of  his  life  and 
death." 

Lincoln  was  a  Providential  man, —  of 
that  there  can  be  little  question,  but  every 
man  has  it  in  his  power  to  be  Providen- 
tial also,  though  not  in  the  same  way,  by 
being  the  deliverer  of  a  race  and  the 
saviour  of  a  nation,  but  by  living  up  to 
the  promptings  of  his  better  nature  and 
seizing  the  opportunities  God  sends  his 
way.  Any  man  can  thus  be  Providential 
in  the  full  length  and  breadth  and  sweep 
of  his  life. 

Next  to  Washington,  Lincoln  stands 
out  the  most  colossal  figure  in  American 
history,  and  is  pre-eminent  to  Washing- 
ton in  the  affection  with  which  his  mem- 
ory is  enshrined  in  tLa  hearts  of  his  coun- 
trymen; though  Washington,  as  the  Father 

6 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

of  his  Country,  must  always  be  given  the 
more  exalted  place. 

Washington  gave  us  a  country;  Lin- 
coln preserved  it;  Washington  wrote  the 
first  page  of  our  history;  Lincoln  was 
called  upon  to  write  another,  and  at  a 
period  which  covers  the  most  momentous 
crisis  the  country  had  witnessed  since 
Liberty  Bell  proclaimed  the  birth  of  a 
separate  and  independent  nation.  He 
wrote  the  page  and  he  kept  it  clean, 
though  to  do  so  he  had  to  wash  it  in  rivers 
of  human  blood,  the  warm  heart's  blood 
too  of  the  countrymen  he  loved,  but  he 
would  have  willingly  washed  it  in  his  own 
also,  had  the  sacrifice  been  necessary. 
Alas!  Lincoln's  blood  was  shed  in  the 
end,  not  on  the  altar  of  his  country,  but  by 
the  hand  of  an  assassin;  not  for  the 
glory  of  the  flag,  but  for  the  sorrow  of 
the  nation. 

More,  perhaps,  has  been  written  con- 
cerning the  illustrious  martyr  President 
than  of  any  other  national  character,  and 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

nearly  all  of  this  writing  has  been  eulogy 
approaching  almost  to  deification.  We 
have  enshrined  Lincoln  in  a  Pantheon  of 
Glory,  all  by  himself,  for  the  praise  and 
emulation  of  future  ages,  just  as  we  have 
placed  Benedict  Arnold  and  Aaron  Burr 
in  a  Pillory  of  Shame  to  be  held  up  for 
the  scorn,  execration,  and  anathema  of 
11  time. 

The  beatification  of  Lincoln,  especially 
by  Northerners,  is  due,  in  a  great  measure, 
to  his  devotion  and  loyalty  to  the  cause 
of  the  Union.  The  issue  of  the  war  was 
to  amalgamate  the  contending  parties 
into  a  unified  whole  under  one  flag,  but 
Lincoln  was  not  to  see  the  full  fruition 
of  his  mighty  work,  the  final  triumph  of 
his  policy.  The  hand  of  the  assassin  fell 
upon  him  just  at  the  very  zenith  of  his 
fame,  the  meridian  of  his  greatness,  a  time 
when  public  sentiment  was  at  the  boiling- 
point.  He  had  struck  the  shackles  from  the 
limbs  of  four  millions  of  people,  brought 
order  out  of  chaos,  planted  the  banners  of 

8 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

victory  on  the  broken  ramparts  of  defeat, 
and  had  done  it  in  such  a  way  that  the 
vanquished  almost  fancied  themselves 
the  conquerors,  and  willingly,  proudly, 
saluted  the  flag  of  a  cemented  Fatherland. 

He  had  brought  together  the  warring 
elements  into  a  splendid  and  invincible 
Union;  he  had  become  the  idol  of  his 
people  as  Washington  had  once  been; 
he  had  been  hailed  as  the  Messiah  of  the 
slave  and  the  Saviour  of  the  oppressed, 
and  then,  in  a  moment,  his  great  light 
was  extinguished  in  the  gloom  and  dark- 
ness of  universal  sorrow.  With  all  that 
he  had  accomplished,  nevertheless,  he 
went  down  to  the  grave,  like  another 
Columbus,  unconscious  of  the  great  work 
he  had  consummated. 

His  Emancipation  Proclamation  not 
only  melted  the  manacles  of  the  slaves  by 
its  electric  touch,  but  it  freed  the  whole 
nation  from  the  bondage  of  years.  Free 
speech  had  been  suppressed,  men  dared 
not  utter  their  convictions,  the  pulpit 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

had  been  overawed,  the  press  had  been 
shackled,  we  were  being  reproached  by 
the  nations  of  the  earth  for  violating  the 
first  principles  of  freedom  by  holding 
men  in  bondage.  Europe  was  in  trans- 
ports of  laughter  at  a  country  proclaiming 
human  liberty,  while  clinging  to  all  the 
traditions  of  slavery,  and  her  risible 
faculties  were  really  excusable  in  face  of 
such  a  paradox.  Lincoln  keenly  felt  the 
sneers  and  taunts,  and  in  the  indignation 
of  his  mighty  manhood  he  arose  and  freed 
the  nation  from  its  incubus  of  shame. 
He  made  its  soil  too  hot  for  the  feet  of 
slaves;  he  unshackled  the  pulpit;  he 
unmuzzled  the  press;  he  removed  the 
dark  blots  from  the  national  honor,  and 
united  and  free  he  placed  his  country 
greatest  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

The  immortal  Proclamation  linked  his 
name  with  the  rights  of  man,  the  cause 
of  personal  liberty,  and  the  progress  of 
humanity.  This  is  why  Lincoln  is  en- 
throned on  so  high  a  pedestal;  this  is 

10 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

why  the  great  War  President  is  enshrined 
in  tlie  heart  of  hearts  of  his  countrymen. 

Some  are  of  the  opinion,  that  had  the 
illustrious  Tribune  been  spared,  his  plans 
of  Reconstruction  would  have  antagonized 
the  best  men  of  his  party,  and  instead  of 
coming  down  to  posterity  as  the  most 
revered  and  popular  President,  after 
Washington,  he  would  have  left  his  name 
in  our  annals  as  probably  that  of  the  most 
unpopular  Executive  we  have  had.  But 
such  surmise  is  a  piece  of  far-fetched 
anticipation  very  remotely  removed  from 
the  boundary  of  probability.  Lincoln 
would  not  have  antagonized,  he  would 
have  converted  and  brought  men  to  the 
same  viewpoint  as  himself. 

As  it  is,  he  towers  so  majestically  above 
our  horizon,  that  in  his  great  and  com- 
manding national  role,  we  are  apt  to 
quite  forget  his  character  as  an  individual, 
his  personality  as  a  man  and  what  it 
represented  in  the  domain  of  private  life. 

That   Lincoln   was   a^  man  of  strong 

11 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

character  and  tenacious  purpose,  rather 
than  brilliant  and  intellectual,  is  a  point 
conceded  by  all  who  have  studied  him 
in  the  calm  of  impartiality  and  in  no 
sense  indulged  in  hero  worship.  Despite 
the  claim  of  his  divine  mission,  his  great- 
ness was  service  in  loyalty  to  an  ideal  and 
it  was  subordination  of  the  personal  self 
to  his  ideals  rather  than  any  extraordinary 
gifts  with  which  nature  had  endowed  him, 
which  gives  glory  to  him  and  the  men 
who  stood  with  him. 

He  has  been  contrasted  with  Napoleon, 
whose  star  was  just  sinking  below  the 
horizon  as  his  was  ascending  above  it, 
but  it  is  rather  invidious  to  contrast  two 
so  widely  divergent  actors  on  the  stage  of 
fame.  The  difference  between  them  is 
the  difference  between  the  iron  heel  and 
the  helping  hand,  between  tyranny  and 
freedom,  between  a  man  living  for  self 
and  glory,  and  a  man  living  for  the 
broadest  kind  of  cosmopolitanism  and 
the  widest  type  of  humanitarianism. 

12 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

Lincoln's  whole  career  is  a  manifes- 
tation of  his  absolute  integrity  of  pur- 
pose, of  his  fearless  honesty  in  all  things, 
of  his  considerate  feeling  for  others,  of 
his  profound  respect  for  conscience,  and 
his  reverential  fear  of  God. 


13 


WAS  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  A 
CHRISTIAN? 


God  give  us  men!    A  time  like  this  demands 

Clean  minds,  pure  hearts,  true  faith,  and  ready 
hands. 

Men  who  possess  opinions  and  a  will; 

Men  whom  desire  for  office  does  not  kill; 

Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  cannot  buy; 

Men  who  have  honor;  men  who  will  not  lie; 

Tall  men;  sun-crowned  men;  men  who  will  live 
above  the  fog 

In  public  duty  and  in  private  thinking; 

Men  who  can  stand  before  a  demagogue 

And  denounce  his  treacherous  flatteries,  and  with- 
out winking. 

For  a  while  base  tricksters  with  their  wornout 
creeds, 

Their  large  professions,  and  their  little  deeds, 

Wrangle  in  selfish  strife,  lo!    Freedom  weeps, 

Wrong  rules  the  land  and  waiting  Justice  sleeps. 

—  J.  G.  Holland 


II 

WAS  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  A  CHRISTIAN  ? 

IN  regard  to  his  religious  views,  Lincoln 
was  always  exceedingly  reticent,  but 
this  reserve  gives  but  greater  force  to  the 
striking  proof  of  the  deep  faith  professed 
in  his  proclamations  and  public  addresses, 
and  that  his  life  was  actuated  by  high 
religious  principles.  He  was  too  broad, 
too  big  brained,  to  care  for  doctrinal 
beliefs  or  sectarian  differences. 

His  mother  and  father  were  Free- Will 
Baptists  in  Kentucky.  In  Indiana  they 
became  members  of  what  was  then  known 
as  the  Predestinarian  church,  not  from 
any  change  in  belief,  but  because  it  was 
the  only  denomination  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. When  Thomas  Lincoln  removed 
to  Illinois  he  united  with  the  Christian 

17 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

church,    commonly   known   as    "  Camp- 
bellites,"  and  in  that  faith  he  died. 

In  his  early  days  Lincoln  had  little 
opportunity  for  the  practice  of  religion, 
and  his  parents,  though  religious  enough 
in  themselves,  as  has  just  been  pointed 
out,  took  little  trouble  to  inculcate  its 
precepts  on  his  youthful  mind.  The 
charge  has  been  brought  against  him  that 
he  was  an  agnostic,  but  this  arose  from 
tEe  fact  that  when  a  young  man  at  Salem, 
in  1834,  he  prepared  a  review  of  Thomas 
v^'  Paine's  "  Age  of  Reason  "  and  Volney's 
"  Ruins  of  Empires,"  with  a  view  to 
reading  it  before  a  literary  society  that 
had  been  organized  in  the  neighborhood. 
A  friend  of  his  —  Sam  Hill  —  burned  the 
manuscript,  which  made  the  young  man 
very  indignant,  as  he  had  spent  much 
time  in  its  preparation.  He  had,  to  an 
extent,  indorsed  the  views  of  these  deistic 
writers,  and  their  works  had  made  a  deep 
impression  on  him,  but  he  came  to  realize 
their  specious  sophistries  at  their  true 

18 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

value  and  turned  away  from  them  with 
feelings  of  strong  aversion,  so  that  he 
thanked  Sam  Hill  for  the  service  he  had 
done  him  in  destroying  the  manuscripts  of 
approval  and  thus  turning  his  thoughts 
in  the  right  direction  which  led  him  to 
see  the  evils  of  infidel  teachings. 

He  never  was  an  unbeliever,  and  as  he 
advanced  in  years  his  religious  conceptions 
deepened  and  his  faith  and  reliance  on 
the  Divine  Power  strengthened  with 
time. 

/  In  common  with  those  reared  under\ 
similar  circumstances  in  rural  localities  j 
he    was    highly    superstitious,    and    this ! 
superstition  he  was  never  able  to  shake/ 
off  in  after  life,  though  to  offset  it  and 
counteract  the   morbid   influence   it  ex- 
erted over  him  he  had  recourse  to  humor 
and  tried  to  look  on  the  bright  side  of 
everything,  often  on  the  ludicrous  side, 
and  gave  such  free  rein  to  his  inclination 
in  this  direction  that  he  gained  for  himself 
something  of  the  reputation  of  a  humorist 

19 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

and  wag,  but  in  reality  his  love  for 
jesting  and  telling  humorous  stories  came 
to  him  as  a  second  nature,  an  inheritance 
from  his  father,  who  was  renowned  in  his 
section  for  droll  sayings,  funny  anecdotes, 
and  striking  illustrations. 

rHe  was  also  somewhat  interested  in 
spiritualism,  but  as  the  occult  art  of  com- 
municating with  the  denizens  of  the  un- 
seen world  had  not  attained  such  a  degree 
of  perfection  in  his  day  as  in  ours,  his 
opportunity  for  investigation  was  limited 
to  a  few  seances  given  by  peripatetic 
mediums,  which,  however,  instead  of  in- 
creasing his  faith  in  intercommunication 
with  the  manes  of  the  departed,  only 
excited  his  disgust  for  the  fakirs  who  laid 
,  claim  to  the  power  of  summoning  spirits 
xto  mortal  presence. 

All  his  life  Lincoln  was  a  man  who 
thought  for  himself;  he  would  not  allow 
the  opinions  of  others  to  obtrude  them- 
selves on  him,  he  investigated  for  himself, 
and  his  intellectual  honesty  would  not 

20 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

permit  him  to  make  pretense  to  faith  or 
simulate  what  he  did  not  feel. 

Some  writers  would  have  us  believe 
thaTSe  was  not  a  Christian  at  all,  in  fact, 
was  an  out  and  out  infidel  of  the  stripe 
of  Voltaire  and  Paine;  but  we  have  seen 
what  gave  rise  to  this  misconception  of 
his  character  and  caused  it  to  gain  circula- 
tion. The  works  of  Paine  and  Volney 
were  the  only  books  of  an  infidel  tendency 
that  he  ever  read,  and  when  he  saw  his 
error  he  tried  to  disabuse  his  mind  of 
their  teachings  as  quickly  as  possible. 

To  get  at  a  right_ consideration  of  his 
religious  beliefs,  we  must  go  back  to 
those  early  days  in  the  life  of  the  future 
statesman  after  the  family  had  removed 
from  Kentucky  to  Indiana.  It  was  a  wild 
place  in  which  his  boyhood  was  spent; 
the  primeval  American  wood  which  was 
only  beginning  to  hear  the  voice  of  a 
crude  civilization,  and  had  not,  as  yet, 
heard  the  sound  of  a  church  bell.  There 
were  no  places  of  worship ;  there  were  no 

21 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

schools  or  even  stores  or  shops;  in  truth, 
so  isolated  and  primitive  was  the  location 
of  the  Lincoln  camp  that  the  necessities 
of  life  were  many  miles  removed  from  it. 
His  father,  Thomas  Lincoln,  though 
a  good  man  in  a  general  way,  was  but  an 
indifferent  parent,  and  consequently  a 
poor  guide  or  mentor  for  the  youth.  The 
poor  man  had  received  many  hard  knocks 
from  the  iron  hand  of  misfortune  and  had 
become  almost  wholly  disheartened,  which 
led  to  carelessness  and  thriftlessness, 
and  besides,  he  was  illiterate  and  unpol- 
ished. It  could  not  be  expected  that  a 
man  thus  handicapped  himself  could  give 
his  boy  good  training,  either  morally  or 
intellectually.  The  mother,  too,  had  been 
ground  down  by  poverty  to  such  a  degree 
as  to  lose  almost  all  interest  in  life;  her 
burden  soon  became  too  heavy  to  bear, 
and  she  had  to  lay  it  down  before  coming 
to  the  middle  milestone  of  life.  It  is  not 
to  be  wondered  that,  under  such  circum- 
stances and  amid  such  surroundings,  the 

22 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

boy  Abraham  grew  up  after  the  manner 
of  a  wild,  strong  weed,  following  the  bent 
of  his  own  rugged  nature. 

It  was  a  dark  time  and  the  Lincolns 
were  in  dark  struggles.  Their  abode 
at  first  was  a  rude  hut,  a  mere  shed  of 
rough  poles,  open  to  the  suns  of  summer 
and  the  snows  of  winter.  Even  when  a 
cabin  was  at  length  erected,  there  were 
neither  doors  nor  windows  in  it.  The 
beds  were  composed  of  dried  leaves  and 
their  coverings  of  the  skins  of  wild  ani- 
mals. Food  was  scarce  and  of  the 
coarsest  kind  and  had  to  be  brought 
from  a  long  distance.  In  after  years 
Lincoln  never  cared  to  refer  to  this  period 
in  his  career. 

In  1818,  when  Abraham  was  nine 
years  old,  his  mother  died  and  was  buried 
in  a  cleared  space  a  little  beyond  the 
cabin,  without  any  religious  ceremonies 
or  observances  whatever.  However,  there 
was  a  service  held  over  the  grave  some 
months  afterwards  by  an  itinerant 

23 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

preacher  who  came  at  the  request  of 
young  Abraham.  The  prayers  that  Par- 
son Elkin  said  above  the  mound  of 
Nancy  Hanks  were  the  first  public  prayers 
to  which  Abraham  Lincoln  listened. 

After  a  time  Thomas  Lincoln  went 
back  to  Kentucky,  and  shortly  returned 
with  a  new  wife,  Sally  Bush  Johnson, 
widow  of  the  jailer  of  Hardin  County. 
She  had  three  children,  and  these,  with 
the  Lincoln  household,  which  included 
two  Hanks  boys,  kin  of  the  late  Mrs. 
Lincoln,  formed  a  somewhat  heterogene- 
ous family. 

They  were,  however,  extremely  domes- 
tic and  tenderly  attached  to  one  another, 
which  is  very  seldom  the  case  in  mixed 
households,  but  they  were  all  of  the  same 
class,  born  and  reared  under  similar 
circumstances. 

The  two  branches  even  united  in 
religion  and  joined  the  little  church  a  few 
miles  distant,  which  had  as  the  seat  of 
worship  a  small  frame  building  lately 

24 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

erected  iif  that  region.  Young  Abraham, 
however,  did  not  affiliate  and  follow  the 
example  of  his  kin.  He  had  to  work 
hard,  and  religion  at  this  time  seemed  to 
give  him  little  concern,  for,  as  before 
observed,  he  had  little  opportunity  to 
cultivate  it  had  he  desired  to  do  so.  At 
an  early  age  he  was  cast  upon  the  bitter- 
ness of  the  world,  and  in  the  sweat  of  his 
brow  had  he  to  earn  his  daily  bread.  With 
him  the  stern  battle  of  life  began  early; 
he  had  to  gird  on  his  sword  for  the  combat 
at  an  age  when  the  cares  and  shadows 
of  the  world  are  in  the  far  perspective 
of  the  future  and  the  sunshine  of  happi- 
ness illumines  the  morning  of  life  with 
its  brightest  rays. 

The  specter  of  poverty  was  at  his  side; 
he  could  not  get  away  from  it;  his  only 
hope  to  exorcise  it  from  his  presence  lay 
in  unremitting  toil,  constant  endeavor  to 
overcome  its  influence  on  his  career,  and 
with  this  end  in  view  he  sternly  resolved 
to  do  all  that  hard  work,  patience,  and 

96 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

perseverance  demanded  to  free  himself 
from  its  sinister  companionship. 

The  story  of  his  thirst  for  knowledge 
and  the  limited  means  at  his  disposal  for 
assuaging  it  need  scarcely  be  repeated, 
for  it  is  a  pathetic  story  familiar  to 
almost  all,  and  becomes  hackneyed  with 
repetition. 

In  August,  1831,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
two,  being  satisfied  that  he  liad  fully  dis- 
charged any  debt  which  he  owed  his 
father  for  such  rearing  and  opportunities 
as  he  had  received,  he  left  the  parent 
cabin,  and,  as  it  turned  out,  forever. 
Deep  down  in  his  soul  he  had  resolved  to 
make  himself  something  better  and  higher 
than  his  father  was  or  ever  could  hope 
to  be.  From  this  stage  onwards  his 
career  is  a  matter  of  national  history ;  the 
man  is  almost  lost  sight  of  in  the  states- 
man, and  his  private  life  is  submerged 
in  the  public  eminence  to  which  he  at- 
tained. 

We   must,   however,   deal   with   those 

26 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

phases  of  his  boyhood  and  young  man- 
hood which  bear  a  relation  and  lead  up 
to  the  illustrious  heights  he  was  destined 
to  gain  as  the  ruler  of  a  nation  and  the 
emancipator  of  a  race.  «^ 

•  'We  have  said  that  most  people  believe  \ 
that  Lincoln  was  a  Providential  man,  was 
called  of  God  to  be  the  preserver  of  a 
nation  and  the  deliverer  of  the  slave,  and 
this  really  seems  to  be  the  explanation 
which  accounts  for  the  singular  success 
of  his  unparalleled  career;  otherwise,  how 
could  this  backswoods  youth,  rough, 
uncouth,  little  educated,  reach  the  greatest 
eminence  possible  for  an  American;  how 
could  he  have  climbed  the  heights  of 
fame  until  he  arrived  at  the  culminating 
pinnacle;  how  could  he  have  become 
the  recipient  of  the  greatest  and  grandest ' 
honors  his  countrymen  had  in  their  power 
to  confer  upon  him  ? 

His  accomplishments  surely  prove  be- 
yond question  that  this  obscure,  lowly 
born  man  was  the  chosen  instrument  of 

27 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

a  Divine  Wisdom,  raised  up  to  fulfill  the 
designs  '6f"~an  all- wise  Providence  in 
freeing  a  race  from  bondage,  just  as 
Moses  was  raised  up  to  lead  '  the  chosen 
people  '  from  the  land  of  their  captivity. 

Despite  his  early  training,  or  rather 
lack  of  training,  regardless  of  his  seeming 
early  indifference  to  religion,  and  all  for 
which  it  stood,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  on 
all  occasions  and  at  all  times  not  only 
a  good  Christian  and  sincere  believer, 
but  a  man  of  the  deepest  religious  senti- 
ments, imbued  with  a  strong  faith  and 
earnest  allegiance  to  moral  principles;  a 
man  \\>o  all  through  life  had  the  utmost 
dependence  upon  and  reliance  in  divine 
guidance,  and  who  undertook  nothing 
without  invoking  God's  assistance  to 
enaBIe^Eim  to  determine  what  was  right 
from  what  was  wrong.  Unwavering  trust 
in  the  Almighty  was  the  keynote  to  his 
success  and  the  foundation  stone  of  his 
greatness. 

Let  us  pause  to  consider  what  really 

28 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

were  the  religious  convictions  of  this 
wonderful  man. 

That  he  was  a  true  and  sincere  Chris- 
tian, in  fact,  if  not  in  form,  is  fully  proved 
by  many  extracts  from  his  letters  and 
numerous  addresses;  his  public  utterances 
more  than  verify  his  belief  in  the  inter- 
vention of  a  Supreme  Power  in  the  affairs 
of  men. 

Apart  from  this,  however,  we  have 
explicit  testimony  of  the  sincerity  of  his 
convictions  of  the  truth  of  religion  by 
the  fact  that  he  was  a  faithful  attendant 
on  divine  service.  For  four  years  in 
Washington  he  attended  Dr.  Gurley's 
Presbyterian  church,  and  such  attendance 
is  certainly  conclusive  that  he  was  in 
form,  as  well  as  in  fact,  a  believing  Chris- 
tian. 

That  he  attended  church  merely  for 
the  sake  of  appearance  is  not  tenable, 
for  his  nature  was  too  open  and  honest  to 
do  that  which  was  not  based  upon  sincere 
conviction. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

His  reply  to  the  negroes  of  Baltimore 
who,  in  1864,  presented  him  with  a  beauti- 
ful Bible,  confirms  his  belief  in  the  divine 
inspiration  of  God's  word  as  revealed 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  On  the  occasion 
of  this  Bible  presentation  he  said:  "  This 
great  Book  is  the  best  gift  God  has  given 
to  man;  all  the  good  from  the  Saviour  of 
the  world  is  communicated  through  this 
Book." 

He  was  an  habitual  reader  of  the  Bible, 
more  familiar  with  its  contents  than  most 
ministers.  His  familiarity  with  its  pages 
is  shown  in  his  literary  style  and  in  the 
frequent  quotations  from  it  with  which 
his  writings  are  interspersed.  He  once 
wrote  his  early  friend,  Joshua  Speed, — 
"  I  am  profitably  engaged  reading  the 
Bible.  Take  all  of  this  Book  upon  reason 
that  you  can  and  the  balance  upon  faith 
and  you  will  live  and  die  a  better  man." 

To  deny  that  he  was  a  believer  is  to 
accuse  him  of  hypocrisy  and  double 
dealing,  an  accusation  which  is  made 

90 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

more  emphatic  in  view  of  his  regular 
church  attendance  and  the  fervent  re- 
ligious sentiments  which  characterized 
his  public  acceptance  of  the  teachings 
of  Christianity. 

When  he  left  his  home  at  Springfield, 
with  a  full  appreciation  of  the  grave 
responsibility  devolving  upon  him,  in 
bidding  farewell  to  the  Christian  com- 
munity in  which  he  had  lived  for  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  he  gave  ex- 
pression to  his  sentiments  in  this  patheti^ 
valedictory^'  I  now  leave,  not  knowing\ 
I  when,  or  whether  ever,  I  may  return,  withl 
la  task  before  me  greater  than  that  whicl/ 
rested  upon  Washington.  With  the  as- 
sistance of  that  Divine  Being  who  ever 
attended  him  I  cannot  fail.  Trusting  in 
Him  who  can  go  with  me  and  remain 
witli  you  and  be  everywhere  for  good,  let 
us  confidently  hope  that  all  will  yet  be 
well.  To  His  care  commending  you,  as  I 
hope  in  your  prayers  you  will  commend 
me,  I  bid  you  an  affectionate  farewell." 

31 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

J  Such  language  does  not  sound  much 
like  that  of  an  unbeliever,  but  on  the 
contrary  is  pregnant  with  faith  and  hope 
in  the  guidance  and  watchfulness  of  a 
Supreme  Being. 

When  requested  to  preside  at  a  meeting 
of  the  Christian  Commission  in  Washing- 
ton, held  February  22,  1863,  he  replied, 
"  The  birthday  of  Washington  and  the 
Christian  Sabbath  coinciding  this  year, 
and  suggesting  together  the  highest  in- 
terests of  this  life,  and  of  that  to  come,  is 
most  propitious  for  the  meeting  proposed." 

In  the  February  of  the  preceding  year 
Lincoln  was  visited  by  a  severe  affliction 
in  the  death  of  his  beloved  son,  Willie, 
to  whom  he  was  much  attached,  and  by 
the  extreme  illness  of  another  son,  Thomas, 
familiarly  called  "Tad."  This  was 
a  new  burden  and  a  heavy  one,  but 
through  his  firm  faith  in  Providence  he 
regarded  the  double  visitation  as  direct 
from  God,  accepting  the  otherwise  in- 
explicable affliction  as  a  manifestation 

32 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

of  the  divine  design  in  regard  to  himself. 
A  devout  Christian  lady  from  Massa- 
chusetts, who  was  officiating  in  one  of 
the  hospitals  at  the  time,  came  to  attend 
the  sick  children.  She  reports  that  the 
President  watched  with  her  about  the 
bedside  of  the  sick  ones,  and  that  he  often 
walked  the  room,  saying  sadly,  "  This 
is  the  hardest  trial  of  my  life, —  why  is  it, 
why  is  it  ?  "  In  the  course  of  conversa- 
tion with  this  nurse,  he  closely  questioned 
her  concerning  her  situation;  she  told 
him  that  she  was  a  widow,  and  that  her 
husband  and  two  children  were  in  heaven, 
and  added,  that  she  saw  the  hand  of  God 
in  it  all,  and  that  she  never  loved  Him  so 
much  before  as  she  had  since  her  affliction. 

"  How  is  that  brought  about  ?"  he 
inquired. 

"  Simply  by  trusting  in  God  and  feeling 
that  He  does  all  things  well,"  she  replied. 

"  Did  you  submit  fully  under  the  first 
loss  ?  "  Lincoln  again  inquired. 

"  No!  "   she   answered,   "  not  wholly, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

but  as  blow  came  upon  blow,  and  all 
were  taken,  I  could  and  did  submit  and 
was  very  happy." 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  you  say  that,"  said 
the  President,  pathetically,  "  your  ex- 
perience will  help  me  to  bear  my  afflic- 
tion." 

On  the  morning  of  his  boy's  funeral, 
when  assured  that  many  Christians  were 
praying  for  him,  the  tears  welled  in  his 
eyes  as  he  faltered  out  to  his  comforter, 
"  I  am  glad  to  hear  that,  I  want  them  to 
pray  for  me,  I  need  their  prayers." 
When  the  nurse  came  forward  to  express 
her  sympathy,  the  President  thanked  her 
and  said,  "  I  will  try  to  go  to  God  with  my 
sorrows."  A  few  days  afterwards  she 
asked  him  if  he  could  trust  God,  and  he 
answered,  "  I  think  I  can  and  I  will  try." 
Continuing,  he  expressed  himself  more 
fully,  "I  wish  I  had  that  childlike 
faith  you  speak  of  and  I  trust  He  will 
give  it  to  me."  Then  he  went  on  to 
speak  of  his  mother  who,  so  many  years 

34 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

before,  had  been  laid  to  rest  in  the  lonely 
Indiana  clearing;  the  memory  of  her  who 
had  pillowed  his  head  on  her  bosom 
came  back  to  him  with  the  tenderest 
recollections.  Though,  as  has  been 
stated,  she  had  little  time  or  opportunity 
to  teach  him  the  principles  of  her  own 
simple  faith  and  reverence,  she  did  not 
wholly  neglect  him.  She  taught  him  a 
few  short  prayers  and  pious  precepts,  and 
these  he  never  forgot  in  the  after  time. 
"  I  remember  her  prayers,"  said  he, 
"  and  they  have  followed  me;  they  have 
clung  to  me  all  my  life." 

Some  think  that  it  was  Sally  Bush 
Johnson  to  whom  he  here  refers,  who 
was  a  good  and  religious  woman,  but 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  allusion 
is  to  his  own  mother,  for  whose  early 
death  he  sorrowed  deeply  and  whom  he 
recalled  to  memory  many  a  time,  though 
he  was  but  a  lad  when  she  passed  away. 

Many  a  time  Lincoln  sought  the  prayers 
of  others,  which  proves  that  he  believed 

35 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

in  the  efficacy  of  appealing  to  heaven 
when  in  doubt  and  difficulties.  Bishop 
Simpson  often  called  upon  him,  and  on 
these  occasions  they  would  talk  as 
brothers.  On  parting  the  President 
would  say,  "  Bishop,  don't  leave  without 
prayer. ' '  The  doors  would  then  be  locked 
and  the  two  great  men,  as  little  children, 
would  unite  their  petitions. 

General  Daniel  E.  Sickles  puts  on 
record  a  remarkable  interview  with  Lin- 
coln, in  which  the  latter  expressed  himself 
as  Follows:  "When  Lee  crossed  the 
Potomac  and  entered  Pennsylvania,  fol- 
lowed by  our  army,  I  felt  that  the  crisis 
had  come.  I  knew  that  defeat  in  a  great 
battle  on  Northern  soil  involved  the  loss 
of  Washington,  to  be  followed,  perhaps, 
by  the  intervention  of  England  or  France 
in  favor  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
I  went  to  my  room  and  got  down  on  my 
knees  in  prayer.  I  felt  that  I  must  put 
all  my  trust  in  Almighty  God.  He  gave 
to  our  people  the  best  country  ever  given 

36 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

to  man.  He  alone  could  save  it  from 
destruction.  I  had  tried  my  best  to  do 
my  duty  and  found  myself  unequal  to  the 
task.  The  burden  was  more  than  I 
could  bear.  God  had  been  often  our 
Protector  in  other  days.  I  prayed  Him 
to  help  us  and  give  us  victory  now.  I 
felt  that  my  prayer  was  answered.  I 
knew  that  God  was  on  our  side.  I  had 
no  misgivings  about  the  result  of  Gettys- 
burg." 

"  How  do  you  feel  about  Vicksburg, 
Mr.  President?"  asked  General  Sickles. 

"  Grant  will  pull  through  all  right," 
returned  Lincoln,  "  I  am  sure  of  it;  I  have 
been  despondent,  but  am  so  no  longer. 
God  is  with  us." 

Rising  from  his  seat,  the  President  took 
Sickles  by  the  hand,  and  continued, 
"  Sickles,  I  am  told,  as  you  have  been 
told,  perhaps,  that  your  condition  is 
serious.  I  am  in  a  prophetic  mood  to-day. 
You  will  get  well." 

Do  not  such  sentiments  as  these  show 

37 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

conclusively  his  faith  in  divine  power  and 
his  utter  dependence  upon  God  ? 

'To  express  such  deep  feelings  of  re- 
ligious principles  did  not  necessitate  his 
being  a  sectarian  or  even  an  attendant  at 
church. 

Yet  we  know  Lincoln  did  attend  church. 
We  have  already  mentioned  that  he  went 
regularly  to  Dr.  Gurley's  Presbyterian 
church  in  Washington,  but  he  was  a  reg- 
ular worshiper  long  before  he  came  to 
Washington.  When  in  Springfield  he 
was  an  attendant  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church,  of  which  the  Rev.  Dr.  James 
Smith  was  pastor.  This  clergyman  aided 
Lincoln,  who  had  then  begun  the  practice 
of  law,  in  an  investigation  into  the  claims 
of  the  Bible.  The  future  President  at 
that  time  made  a  frank  acknowledgment 
of  his  belief  that  the  Bible  is  an  authorita- 
tive revelation  of  God. 


38 


WHY  DID  LINCOLN  NEVER  JOIN 
A  CHURCH? 


Give  us  men! 
Men  from  every  rank, 
Fresh  and  free  and  frank, 
Men  of  thought  and  reading. 
Men  of  light  and  leading, 
Men  of  loyal  breeding, 
National  welfare  speeding. 
Men  of  faith  and  not  of  faction, 
Men  of  lofty  aim,  in  action  — 
Give  us  men!  —  I  say  again 

Give  us  men! 

Give  us  men! 
Strong  and  stalwart  ones, 
Men  whom  highest  hope  inspires, 
Men  whom  purest  honor  Jires, 
Men  who  trample  self  beneath  them 
Men  who  make  their  country  wreathe  them, 

As  her  noble  sons, 

Worthy  of  their  sires. 
Men  who  never  shame  their  mothers, 
Men  who  never  fail  their  brothers, 
True,  however  false  are  others  — 
Give  us  men!  —  I  say  again 

Give  us  men! 


Give  us  men! 

Men  who,  when  the  tempest  gathers, 
Grasp  the  standard  of  their  fathers 

In  the  thickest  Jig  ht. 
Men  who  strike  for  homes  and  altar, 
(Let  the  coward  cringe  and  falter  — 

God  defend  the  Right). 
True  as  truth,  though  lorn  and  lonely, 
Tender  as  the  brave  are  only  — 
Men  who  tread  where  saints  have  trod, 
Men  for  Country,  Right,  and  God  — 
Give  us  men!  —  /  say  again,  again 

Give  us  men! 

—  Bishop  of  Exeter 


Ill 

WHY  DID  LINCOLN  NEVER  JOIN  A  CHURCH  ? 

THAT  Lincoln  did  not  join  a  church  is 
no  reason  for  inferring  that  he  was 
not  a  believer  in  Christianity.  It  was  just 
the  opposite  in  his  case, —  as  the  years 
passed  his  convictions  and  faith  became 
stronger. 

The  warring  creeds  of  Christianity 
looked  to  him  like  so  many  soldiers  of  the 
same  army  disagreeing  among  themselves 
as  to  the  best  way  to  win  a  battle.  Lin- 
coln would  win  in  any  way  he  could, 
and  would  look  on  that  way  as  the  best. 
In  his  day,  even  more  than  in  ours, 
ministers  fell  out  with  one  another  touch- 
ing the  meaning  of  the  Bible,  and  then, 
as  always,  weakened  its  influence  and 
their  own  upon  the  public  mind.  Preach- 
ers and  teachers  even  now  devote  their 

43 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

|P 

time  to  useless  discussions  which  will 
never  benefit  any  one,  and  to  the  inves- 
tigation of  controverted  points  in  theo- 
logy, deciding  principles  of  interpretation 
and  attacking  chronological  difficulties 
that  have  no  more  connection  with  win- 
ning men  to  right  living  than  the  battle  of 
Lexington  has  with  the  reformation  of 
drunkards. 

The  precious  time  that  Lincoln  saw 
wasted,  the  energies  misspent,  and  the 
intellectual  antagonisms  begotten,  which 
then,  as  now,  divided  the  hearts  of  men, 
caused  him  to  reject  dogmas  which  were 
considered  essential  to  salvation  by  the 
denominations  of  his  day.  They  moved, 
as  alas!  too  many  of  them  still  do,  in 
the  old  rut  of  orthodox  tradition,  steeped 
in  human  creeds  and  almost  incapable 
of  an  original  idea. 

Lincoln  preferred  new  truths  to  old 
falsehoods,  and,  like  Christ,  was  out  of 
sympathy  with  men  who  swallowed  dog- 
mas whole  and  produced  only  pious 

44 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

platitudes.  This  very  thing  to-day  ac- 
counts for  the  fact  that  so  many  brilliant 
men  and  interesting  women  are  uncon- 
nected with  the  churches  and  therefore 
unreached  by  the  pulpits.  Everywhere, 
in  increasingly  large  numbers,  we  find 
men,  energetic,  learned,  and  refined, 
humane,  generous,  reverent,  open  to 
argument  and  spiritual  persuasion,  moral 
men  with  religious  sensibilities,  who  often 
set  a  worthy  example  to  professors 
themselves,  the  very  choicest  spirits  in 
the  community,  not  identified  with  any 
church,  but  whose  lives,  we  all  must 
admit,  are  as  much  and  often  more 
Christian  than  those  of  professed  church- 
goers. 

Mere  water,  whether  a  person  is 
"  buried  in  it,"  or  whether  it  is  applied  at 
the  tips  of  a  bishop's  fingers,  makes  no 
change  whatever  in  character.  Faith  in 
religion  as  an  institution  is  faith  in  a 
machine, —  its  application  is  what  tells. 

When  a  member  of  Congress,  knowing 

45 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

Lincoln's  religious  character,  asked  him 
why  he  did  not  join  some  church,  he 
replied:  "  Because  I  find  difficulty  with- 
out mental  reservation  in  giving  my 
assent  to  their  long  and  complicated 
creeds.  When  any  church  inscribes  on 
its  altar,  as  a  qualification  for  member- 
ship, the  Saviour's  statement  of  the  sub- 
stance of  the  law  and  the  Gospel, — 
*  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy  soul  and 
with  all  thy  mind  .  .  .  and  thy  neighbor 
|  as  thyself  ' —  that  church  will  I  join  with 

ill  my  heart  and  soul."  

John  G.  Nicolay,  who  probably  was 
jtter  acquainted  with  Lincoln  and  more 
closely  attached  to  him  than  any  one 
outside  his  own  family  and  near  relatives, 
writes:  "  I  do  not  remember  ever  having 
discussed  religion  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  nor 
do  I  know  of  any  authorized  statement 
of  his  views  in  existence.  He  some- 
times talked  freely,  and  never  made  any 
concealment  of  his  belief  or^unbelief  in 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

any  dogma  or  doctrine,  but  never  pro- 
voked religious  controversies.  I  speak 
more  from  his  disposition  and  habits 
than  from  any  positive  declaration  on 
his  part.  He  frequently  made  remarks 
about  sermons  he  had  heard,  books  he 
had  read,  or  doctrines  that  had  been 
advanced,  and  my  opinion  as  to  his  re- 
ligious belief  is  based  upon  such  casual 
evidence.  There  is  not  the  slightest 
doubt  that  he  believed  in  a  Supreme 
Being  of  omnipotent  power  and  omni- 
scient watchfulness  over  the  children  of 
men,  and  that  this  great  Being  could  be 
reached  by  prayer.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a 
praying  man;  I  know  that  to  be  a  fact. 
And  I  have  heard  him  request  people  to 
pray  for  him,  which  he  would  not  have 
done  had  he  not  believed  that  prayer  is 
answered.  Many  a  time  have  I  heard  Mr. 
Lincoln  ask  ministers  and  Christian  wo- 
men to  pray  for  him,  and  he  did  not  do 
this  for  effect.  He  was  no  hypocrite,  and 
had  such  reverence  for  sacred  things  that 

! 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

he  would  not  trifle  with  them.  I  have 
heard  him  say  that  he  prayed  for  this  or 
that,  and  remember  one  occasion  on 
which  he  remarked  that  if  a  certain  thing 
did  not  occur  he  would  lose  his  faith  in 
prayer. 

"  It  is  a  matter  of  history  that  he  told 
the  Cabinet  he  had  promised  his  Maker 
to  issue  an  Emancipation  Proclamation, 
and  it  was  not  an  idle  remark.  At  the 
same  time  he  did  not  believe  in  some  of 
the  dogmas  of  the  orthodox  churches.  I 
have  heard  him  argue  against  the  doctrine 
of  atonement,  for  instance.  He  con- 
sidered it  illogical  and  unjust  and  a 
premium  upon  evil-doing  if  a  man  who 
had  been  wicked  all  his  life  could  make  up 
for  it  by  a  few  words  or  prayers  at  the 
hour  of  death;  and  he  had  no  faith  in 
death-bed  repentances.  He  did  not  be- 
lieve in  several  other  articles  of  the  creeds 
of  the  orthodox  churches.  He  believed 
in  the  Bible,  however.  ...  He  used  to 
consider  it  the  greatest  of  all  text-books  of 

48 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

morals  and  ethics  and  that  there  was  noth- 
ing to  compare  with  it  in  literature.  .  .  . 

"  It  would  be  difficult  for  any  one  to 
define  Mr.  Lincoln's  position  or  to  classify 
him  among  the  sects.  I  should  say  that 
he  believed  in  a  good  many  articles  in 
the  creeds  of  the  orthodox  churches  and 
rejected  a  good  many  that  did  not  appeal 
to  his  reason. 

"  He  praised  the  simplicity  of  the 
Gospels.  He  often  declared  that  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  contained  the 
essence  of  all  law  and  justice,  and  that 
the  Lord's  Prayer  was  the  sublimest 
composition  in  human  language.  He 
was  a  constant  reader  of  the  Bible,  but 
had  no  sympathy  with  theology,  and 
often  said  that  in  matters  affecting  a 
man's  relations  with  his  Maker  he  couldn't 
give  a  power  of  attorney. 

"  Yes,  there  is  a  story,  and  it  is  prob- 
ably true,  that  when  he  was  very  young 
and  very  ignorant  he  wrote  an  essay  that 
might  be  called  atheistical.  It  was  after 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

he  had  been  reading  a  couple  of  atheistic 
books  which  made  a  great  impression  on 
his  mind,  and  the  essay  is  supposed  to 
have  expressed  his  views  on  those  books, — 
a  sort  of  review  of  them,  containing  both 
approval  and  disapproval, —  and  one  of 
his  friends  burned  it.  He  was  very 
indignant  at  the  time,  but  was  afterwards 
glad  of  it. 

"  The  opposition  of  the  Springfield 
clergy  to  his  election  was  chiefly  due  to 
remarks  he  made  about  them.  One 
careless  remark,  I  remember,  was  widely 
quoted.  An  eminent  clergyman  was  de- 
livering a  series  of  doctrinal  discourses 
that  attracted  considerable  local  atten- 
tion. Although  Lincoln  was  frequently 
invited,  he  would  not  be  induced  to  attend 
them.  He  remarked  that  he  wouldn't 

trust  Brother to  construe  the  statutes 

of  Illinois  and  much  less  the  laws  of  God; 
that  people  who  knew  him  wouldn't  trust 
his  advice  on  an  ordinary  business  trans- 
action because  they  didn't  consider  him 

50 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

competent;  hence  he  didn't  see  why  they 
did  so  in  the  most  important  of  all  human 
affairs,  the  salvation  of  their  souls. 

"  These  remarks  were  quoted  widely 
and  misrepresented,  to  Lincoln's  injury. 
In  those  days  people  were  not  so  liberal 
asjnow,  and  any  one  who  criticized  a 
parson  was  considered  a  sceptic." 

An  orthodox  believer  Lincoln  may  not 
have  been,  in  fact  was  not,  but  he  was 
better, —  he  had  the  spirit  of  Christ  which 
manifests  itself  more  peculiarly  in  actions 
than  in  words.  Love  to  God  and  man  was 
his  creed,  the  world  was  his  church,  kindly 
words  and  merciful  deeds  his  sermons. 

In  a  certain  formal  sense  the  baptized 
man  or  woman  is  a  Christian,  just  as  all 
foreigners  who  have  been  naturalized  are 
Americans  before  the  law,  but  the  simple 
act  of  naturalization  will  not  make  any 
man  a  good  American.  There  is  a  vast 
difference  between  naturalizing  a  man 
and  nationalizing  him.  He  is  an  Ameri- 
can who  is  an  American  at  heart,  who 

51 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

owes  but  one  allegiance,  is  loyal  to  but 
one  country,  and  is  true  to  but  one  flag, 
whose  sympathies  and  choices,  whose 
heroic  labors  and  sacrifices  in  behalf  of 
his  country  make  him  deserve  the  peerless 
name  of  American. 

So  the  mere  act  of  baptism  or  church 
membership  gives  a  man  but  a  poor  title 
to  the  Christian  name.  Paul  said,  the 
man  was  not  a  Jew  who  was  only  one 
outwardly,  that  the  mere  rite  of  cir- 
cumcision was  nothing,  that  the  true  Jew 
was  one  inwardly  and  at  heart.  If  Paul 
could  thus  express  himself  as  to  the  quali- 
fications which  characterized  a  member 
of  the  Jewish  church,  which  was  avowedly 
a  ritualistic  organization,  it  must  be  safe 
to  say  the  same  thing  about  those  who 
profess  a  belief  in  the  Christian  church, 
which  differed  from  the  Jewish,  mainly 
in  caring  less  for  rites  and  more  for 
Tightness. 

Faith  has  its  fundamental  place  in  the 
plan  of  salvation,  but  faith,  according  to 

52 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

some  people's  understanding  of  it,  is  a 
vivid  perception  of,  or  rather  a  sub- 
scription to  truth  as  the  church  fathers, 
or,  more  likely  the  church  grandmothers, 
defined  it.  Faith,  in  this  sense  of  the 
word,  makes  nobody  a  Christian.  The 
devils  believe  and  tremble. 

It  is  of  great  importance  to  rightly 
believe  the  truth  which  relates  to  Christ 
and  His  kingdom,  but  the  most  unhesi- 
tating assent  of  the  intellect  to  the  most 
orthodox  creeds,  catechisms,  commen- 
taries, and  systems  ever  framed  will  make 
no  man  a  Christian.  An  upright  and 
down  square  life  is  worth  more  than  a 
whole  ton  of  tall  talk. 

The  grandest  profession  of  religion  is 
a  life  all  devoted  to  glorifying  Christ,  by 
living  in  obedience  to  His  commands,  and 
thus  making  the  world  a  little  less  ac- 
cursed and  more  worthy  of  God. 

*A  man  may  be  a  member  of  the  most 
orthodox  church  in  Christendom,  he  may 
sit  at  all  the  communions  for  a  lifetime, 

53 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

but  if  he  be  mean  and  selfish  ancTcareless 
of  the  world's  condition,  he  is  no  Christian. 
While,  on  the  other  hand,  a  man  may, 
like  Abraham  Lincoln,  have  peculiarities 
of  religious  beliefs,  and  yet  if  he  spend 
his  whole  life  for  others,  as  Lincoln  did, 
then  he  is  so  much  like  Christ,  emulating 
His  example  so  well  that  he  has  good  claim 
to  be  called  a  Christian. 

"  Blest  is  the  man  whose  softening  heart 

Feels  all  another's  pain, 
To  whom  the  supplicating  eye 

Was  never  raised  in  vain ; 
Whose  breast  expands  with  generous 
warmth, 

A  stranger's  woes  to  feel, 
And  bleeds  in  pity  o'er  the  wound 

He  wants  the  power  to  heal; 
To  gentle  offices  of  love 

His  feet  are  never  slow  — 
He  views  through  Mercy's  melting  eye 

A  brother  in  a  foe." 

Abraham     Lincoln     never    joined     a 
church,  because  the  creeds  ofhis  day  and 

54 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

of  his  community  were  too  inclusive  of 
detail  in  doctrine  and  exacting  in  their 
ritual  and  terminology.  He  had  no  sym- 
pathy with  theologians.  He  frequently 
declared  that  it  was  blasphemy  for  a 
preacher  to  "  twist  the  words  of  Christ 
around,  so  as  to  sustain  his  own  doctrine 
and  confirm  his  own  private  views,"  and 
he  often  remarked  that  "  the  more  a 
man  knew  of  theology,  the  further  he  got 
away  from  the  spirit  of  Christ." 

Many  preachers  in  the  past  have  been 
strong  factors  in  the  march  of  civilization, 
but  courageous  preachers  have  always 
been  scarce.  As  a  rule,  they  have  been 
more  conservators  of  the  past  than 
moulders  of  the  future,  clinging  with  grim, 
tenacity  to  the  traditions  and  teachings 
of  the  early  fathers. 

Among  the  Church  of  England  preach- 
ers in  Virginia,  while  nearly  all  opposed 
separation  from  the  mother  country, 
there  were  few  so  militant  as  the  famous 
John  Peter  Muhlenberg,  who,  from  his 

55 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

pulpit  at  Woodstock,  Virginia,  declared: 
"  There  is  a  time  for  all  things,  a  time  to 
preach  and  a  time  to  pray,  but  there  is 
also  a  time  to  fight,  and  that  time  has  now 
come,"  and  suiting  the  action  to  the  word, 
threw  off  his  gown,  disclosing  a  uniform 
beneath,  and  followed  by  three  hundred 
men  of  his  congregation,  marched  to  join 
Washington's  forces. 

In  Colonial  times  in  New  England,  the 
pulpit  occupied  a  more  general  sphere 
and  exerted  more  general  influence  than 
to-day.  Ministers  preached  that  the 
Hebrew  Commonwealth  was  the  model 
for  the  new  Republic,  and  so  strenuously 
that  as  an  effect  our  government  assumed 
that  form  which  prevailed  among  the 
Hebrews  under  the  judges  and  had  the 
divine  sanction. 

In  the  agitation  of  the  slave  question, 
as  a  class,  the  preachers  were  mostly 
silent.  Had  they  roused  themselves  to 
the  defence  of  right,  they  could  have 
created  a  public  sentiment  towards  the 

56 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

inhuman  and  shameless  traffic  which 
would  have  destroyed  slavery  without 
the  necessity  of  a  civil  war  in  which  tens 
of  thousands  of  lives  were  sacrificed  and 
millions  of  money  were  lost. 

Theodore  Parker,  Bishop  Simpson, 
Albert  Barnes,  E.  H.  Chapin,  Rabbis 
Sabato  Morais  and  David  Einhorn,  and 
above  all,  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  consti- 
tuted the  few  conspicuous  examples  of 
the  preachers  who  came  out  strongly  for 
abolition,  but  the  stand  these  great  men 
took  was  effective,  and  once  the  die  was 
cast,  practically  all  the  preachers  became 
leaders  in  the  movement  for  emancipation. 

The  attitude  of  Lincoln  on  slavery  was 
not  determined  by  churchmen.  Lincoln 
made  a  wide  distinction  between  church- 
men and  Christians.  Christianity  is  un- 
selfish service  born  of  love;  churchianity 
is  often  a  form  without  a  God,  a  wearing 
of  religion  as  a  cloak  and  not  as  an  armor, 
—  it  never  obeys  a  command  unless  it 
is  too  feeble  to  resist,  and  in  many  cases, 

57 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

is  a  perfidy  and  treason  against  the  law  of 
Christ. 

In  Springfield,  when  Lincoln  found 
that  twenty  of  the  twenty-three  ministers 
of  the  different  denominations  and  the 
majority  of  the  members  of  the  principal 
churches  were  arrayed  against  him  in  his 
Presidential  campaign,  he  drew  forth  from 
his  pocket  a  New  Testament,  saying  to 
some  friends  present:  "  I  have  carefully 
read  the  Bible  and  I  do  not  so  understand 
this  book.  These  men  well  know  that  I 
am  for  freedom  in  the  territories,  freedom 
everywhere,  as  free  as  the  Constitution 
and  laws  will  permit,  and  that  my  op- 
ponents are  for  slavery.  They  know  this 
and  yet,  with  this  book  in  their  hands,  in 
the  light  of  which  human  bondage  cannot 
live  a  moment,  they  are  going  to  vote 
against  me.  I  know  that  Liberty  is 
right,  for  Christ  teaches  it  and  Christ  is 
God.  I  shall  be  vindicated  and  these 
men  will  find  that  they  have  not  read 
their  Bible  aright." 

58 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

Despite  the  great  abolition  preachers 
and  those  who  followed  their  example, 
some  of  the  churches  in  Lincoln's  time 
made  a  choice  of  public  favor  and  sided 
with  slavery,  though,  as  has  been  stated, 
the  majority  of  the  ministers  were  strongly 
moved  to  follow  in  the  lead  of  their  dis- 
tinguished brethren  who  had  unfurled 
the  flag  of  freedom,  yet  withal  the  church 
did  not  exert  sufficient  force  to  make  her- 
self a  power  in  determining  the  issue. 
At  this  time  the  opportunity  was  afforded 
her  of  moulding  public  sentiment,  and  it 
may  be  readily  inferred  that  had  she  pos- 
sessed the  solid  Christianity  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  the  terrible  war  could  have  been 
averted  and  the  country  kept  from  being 
plunged  in  blood  and  gloom,  but  in  this, 
the  greatest  of  all  crises,  the  church  failed 
to  do  her  duty  as  she  should  have  done, 
and  as  a  result,  the  bloodiest  war  of 
history  devastated  and  almost  desolated 
the  land.  Of  course,  once  the  war  was  de- 
clared the  church  stood  solidly  behind  the 

59 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

President,  but  she  had  no  other  alternative 
compatible  with  reason  and  common 
sense,  not  to  speak  of  patriotism.  At 
length  the  preachers  recognized  the  man- 
ner of  man  the  country  had  in  its  great 
leader,  and  so  they  looked  to  him  for 
counsel  and  for  guidance.  Lincoln  was 
practically  demonstrating  that  his  religion 
was  as  good  as  theirs,  and  they,  in  turn, 
were  now  trying  to  make  their  religion  as 
good  as  Lincoln's. 

All  along  the  Christianity  of  Lincoln 
had  the  true  ring  in  it.  It  was  of  that 
type  beautifully  described  in  these  lines : 

"  Creeds   and   confessions,   high   church  or  the 

low 

I  cannot  say;  but  you  would  vastly  please  us 
If  some  pointed  scripture  you  would  show 

To  which  of  these  belonged  the  Saviour,  Jesus. 
I  think  to  all  or  none.     Not  curious  creeds, 

Or  ordered  forms  of  church  rule  He  taught, 
But  love  of  soul  that  blossomed  into  deeds 
With    human    good    and    human    blessings 
fraught. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

On  me  nor  priest  nor  presbyter  nor  pope, 
Bishop  nor  dean  may  stamp  a  party  name, 

But  Jesus  with  His  largely  human  scope 
The  service  of  my  human  life  may  claim ; 

Let  prideful  priests  do  battle  about  creeds  — 

The  church  is  mine  that  does  most  charitable 
deeds." 

There  was  not  a  day,  nay,  not  an  hour 
of  Lincoln's  life  but  was  devoted  to  some 
good  work,  some  act  of  charity,  some 
message  of  consolation  or  comfort  or 
mercy  to  the  miserable  and  the  suffering; 
in  short,  Abraham  Lincoln  carried  his 
religion  into  daily  life;  it  accompanied 
him  everywhere  and  on  all  occasions. 

Every  phase  of  his  character  was  a 
demonstration  of  the  Golden  Rule.  From 
boyhood  to  manhood,  from  manhood  to 
fame,  honesty  was  his  distinguishing 
trait.  As  a  lawyer  all  his  transactions 
were  above  suspicion.  He  would  not 
take  a  case  to  which  there  could  possibly 
be  attached  any  stain  of  falsehood  or  foul- 
dealing.  To  a  man  who  once  offered  him 

61 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

~a 

a  case  of  which  he  could  not  approve, 
he  gave  this  explanation,  quoted  by  his 
partner,  Herndon,  who  vouches  for  it: 
"  There  is  no  reasonable  doubt  that  I  can 
gain  your  case  for  you.  I  can  set  a  whole 
neighborhood  at  loggerheads,  I  can  dis- 
tress a  widowed  mother  and  her  six 
fatherless  children,  and  thereby  get  you 
$600,  which  rightly  belongs,  as  it  ap- 
pears to  me,  as  much  to  them  as  it 
does  to  you.  I  shall  not  take  your  case, 
but  I  will  give  you  a  little  advice  for 
nothing, —  you  seem  to  be  a  splendid, 
energetic  man, —  I  would  advise  you  to 
try  your  hand  at  making  $600  in  some 
other  way." 

Here  is  an  example  of  how  he  brought 
his  religion  into  politics.  When  he  was 
m  the  legislature  and  the  caucus  sought 
to  get  him  into  schemes  that  were  not 
creditable,  in  a  discussion  which  lasted 
until  midnight,  contending  that  the  end 
would  justify  the  means,  Lincoln  closed 
tne  debate  and  defined  his  own  position 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

by  saying,  "  You  may  burn  my  body  to 
ashes  and  scatter  them  to  the  four 
winds  of  heaven;  you  may  drag  my  soul 
down  to  the  regions  of  darkness  and 
despair,  to  be  tormented  forever,  but  you 
will  not  get  me  to  support  a  measure 
which  I  believe  to  be  wrong." 

Judged  alone  by  his  actions  Lincoln 
was  a  Christian  of  the  very  highest  type; 
his  principles  were  founded  upon  the 
teachings  of  the  Master.  He  was  gentle, 
kind,  loving,  thoughtful,  tender,  his  big 
heart  overflowed  at  the  sight  of  suffering 
and  he  alleviated  it  when  he  could.  His 
sympathies  went  out  to  the  poor  in  their 
afflictions.  He  tempered  the  harshness 
and  severity  of  the  great  war  by  words 
of  comfort  and  acts  of  mercy.  He  denied 
himself  at  the  White  House  to  no  one,  the 
poorest  woman  being  as  courteously  re- 
ceived as  the  most  distinguished  states- 
man. On  one  occasion  a  heartbroken 
mother  came  to  plead  for  the  life  of  an 
only  son  who  had  forfeited  it  by  some 

63 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

breach  of  discipline  in  the  ranks.  She 
was  sent  away  rejoicing.  Turning  to  her 
male  companion  on  leaving  the  White 
House  she  indignantly  exclaimed :  "  You 
said  the  President  was  an  ugly  man, — 
why,  he's  the  handsomest  man  I  have 
ever  seen." 

Both  by  act  and  word  did  Lincoln  try 
to  emulate  the  Man  of  Galilee.  Indeed 
few,  if  any,  of  the  world's  leaders  followed 
so  closely  the  precepts  and  example  of  the 
Saviour.  He  adopted  the  Golden  Rule 
as  his  standard  of  conduct  and  lived  up 
to  it  in  every  particular.  He  acted  on 
"the  square"  to  every  man,  so  that  he 
gained  for  himself  the  soubriquet  of 
"  Honest  Abe,"  which  was  fondly  applied 
to  him  all  through  his  public  career.  He 
was  just  in  his  dealings  with  his  fellow-men 
and  never  once  was  guilty  of  deception. 

If  the  character  of  this  man  is  to  be 
estimated  by  the  words  of  Jesus  Himself, 
"By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them," 
then  Abraham  Lincoln  was  one  of  the 

64 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

highest  types  of  Christian  gentleman  that 
ever  trod  the  earth. 

During  the  four  terrible  years  of  the 
war  he 'carried  the  sorrows  of  the  people 
on  his  own  shoulders  and  displayed  the 
true  qualities  of  a  noble  man  and  a 
Christian.  He  placed  himself  at  this 
time  absolutely  in  the  hands  of  a  higher 
poWerl Hear  him  make  this  confession^ 
"  I  should  be  the  most  presumptuous 
blockhead  upon  this  footstool,  if  I  for  one 
day  thought  that  I  could  discharge  the 
duties  which  have  come  upon  me  since  I 
came  into  this  place  without  the  aid  and 
enlightenment  of  One  who  is  stronger  and 
wiser  than  all  others." 

^ .The  light  of  Holy  Writ  was  the  beacon 

star  that  guided  him  through  the  darkness 
of  trying  days;  not  alone  were  the  Holy 
Scriptures  a  guide  for  his  actions,  but  they 
served  as  a  model  for  his  literary  style. 
His  education  was  defective,  yet  at  times 
few  of  the  great  masters  of  literature  could 
equal  him  in  purity  of  language.  High 

65 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

critics  declare  his  second  inaugural  ad- 
dress to  be  one  of  the  greatest  master- 
pieces of  English  prose.  .  Here  are  a  few 
of  the  closing  sentences/  "  Fondly  do  we 
hope,  fervently  do  we  pray  that  the  mighty 
scourge  of  war  may  pass  away,  yet  if 
God  wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the 
wealth  piled  by  the  bondsman's  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited 
toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of 
blood  drawn  by  the  lash  shall  be  paid 
by  another  drawn  by  the  sword,  as  was 
said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it 
must  be  said,  '  the  judgments  of  the  Lord 
are  true  and  righteous  altogether.'  With 
malice  towards  none,  with  charity  for  all, 
with  firmness  in  the  right,  let  us  strive 
on  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in,  to  bind  up 
the  nation's  wounds,  to  care  for  him  who 
shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his 
widow  and  his  orphan,  to  do  all  which 
may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and 
lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  with 
all  nations."  j 

66 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

Apart  from  the  beauty  and  diction  of 
the  language  there  is  a  deep  spirit  of 
faith  and  dependence  on  God  breathed 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  address. 

Surely  the  most  sceptical  must  be  con- 
vinced of  the  sincerity  of  Lincoln's  re- 
ligious belief  from  his  words,  from  his 
actions,  from  his  principles,  from  his 
prayers,  from  his  confessions,  in  a  word, 
from  the  rectitude  of  his  life,  and  admit 
that  he  was,  not  only  a  fervent  believer, 
but  a  practical  Christian  of  the  best  kind, 
though  he  knelt  at  no  denominational  altar. 

Such  was  our  Lincoln.  With  wonder 
and  admiration  we  stand  in  his  presence 
and  feel  the  magnetism  that  attracts  us 
to  the  man.  His  goodness  constituted  his 
greatness. 

As  the  world  brings  its  frankincense 
of  praise  to  offer  as  an  incense  at  his 
shrine,  in  him  men  can  see  such  an  em- 
bodiment of  true  and  glorious  manhood 
that  to  him  can  fittingly  be  applied  the 
word  picture  of  Shakespeare's  ideal: 

67 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

"  The  qualities  are  so  blended  in  him 
that  all  the  world  can  stand  up  and  say, 
Here  is  a  man" 

A  little  doctor  of  divinity  in  a  large 
Baptist  convention  stood  on  a  step  and 
thanked  God  he  was  a  Baptist.  The 
audience  could  hear  him  but  not  see  him, 
so  some  one  shouted,  "  Get  up  higher." 
"  I  can't,"  replied  the  minister,  "to  be 
a  Baptist  is  as  high  as  I  can  get."  He 
was  mistaken, —  there  is  something  higher 
than  being  a  Baptist  or  any  other  kind 
of  an  enthusiastic  sectarian,  and  that  is 
being  a  man.  It  is  quite  possible  to 
be  a  churchman  higher  than  the  highest 
steeple  and  yet  not  have  the  affections 
which  cluster  around  the  throne  of  glory 
and  find  their  nutriment  in  the  bosom 
of  God. 

Lincoln's  religion  was  that  of  character, 
the  greatest  force  in  the  universe.  He 
gave  us  a  life  by  which  to  know  him,  a 
life  overflowing  with  good  works,  full  of 
that  seriousness  which  comes  from  seeing 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

and  dealing  with  eternal  realities,  a  con- 
tinuous exhibit  of  unselfishness. 

The  pure  and  unblemished  character 
of  this  man,  his  integrity  of  deed,  his 
honesty  of  purpose,  his  faith  in  God  have 
given  him  an  everlasting  place  in  the 
affections  of  the  people,  and  the  example 
which  he  has  left  behind  nerves  the  heart 
and  strengthens  the  arm  and  inspires  the 
courage  of  others  to  emulate  him  and  fol- 
low in  his  footsteps.  No  higher  or  better 
type  can  be  placed  before  American  youth 
as  an  exemplar  and  spur  for  ambition. 

He  is  not  a  Christian  who,  however 
orthodox  in  his  beliefs,  has  not  love  and 
devotion,  self-sacrifice  and  honesty,  truth- 
fulness and  manliness. 

No  power  is  like  character, —  this  was 
the  power  which  Abraham  Lincoln  pos- 
sessed and  which  carried  with  it  the 
blessing  of  God,  gaining  for  him  the 
attachment  of  a  continent  and  the  per- 
sonal love  and  loyalty  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race. 

69 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RELIGION 

We  may  truthfully  describe  this  man, 
whose  greatness  was  his  goodness,  as 
Tennyson  describes  one  of  his  heroes: 
he  was 

"Rich  in  saving  commonsense, 
And  as  the  greatest  only  are  — 
In  his  simplicity  sublime; 
Who  never  sold  the  truth  to  serve  the  hour, 
Nor  paltered  with  eternal  God  for  power; 
Whose  life  was  work,  whose  language  rife 
With  rugged  maxims  hewn  from  life; 
Who  never  spake  against  a  foe. 
Let  his  great  example  stand 
Colossal,  seen  in  every  land, 
Till  in  all  lands  and  through  all  human  story, 
The  path  of  duty  be  the  way  to  glory." 


70 


University  of  California  Library 
Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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